We bring you the highlights nanoscale science and technology research in 2017 from IOP Publishing's materials portfolio.

AM-FM test signal for super-wideband and fullband applications

New definitions for inclusion in Recommendation ITU-T P.10/G.100

I'll share the story of my first business exit and what I've learned through my education, certification and evolution in the business of exit planning.

Library - Art Library, Location - OSIZ, Call number - FOLIO N6973.D445 A4 2016

2017: USA, California, Los Altos: Shlama monument

marusin posted a photo:

via Instagram ift.tt/2lRQ8Lp

marusin posted a photo:

via Instagram ift.tt/2miNBe0

Today on q: job title guest 1, job title guest 2, job title guest 3, job title guest 4.

The Bermuda Police Service [BPS] is once again appealing for any witnesses or information on the murder of Jahkoby Smith, who was killed in 2017. A police spokesperson said, “At around 7:15pm on Saturday 29th July, 2017, some six [6] years ago Jahkoby Smith was fatally stabbed after he was involved in an altercation that […]

Ever since November 2, 2016, I've been meaning to blog about the Cubs winning the World Series, and I may yet, but I think my post about their getting into the World Series ("Every Cubs Fan is Ten Years Old Tonight") pretty much sums things up (though obviously it didn't cover their blowing the lead in game 7, extra innings, and that rain delay...).

But for now, I thought I'd blog about what happened this year, between January 9 and 15, when I boarded a very large ship for the first time and set sail with some 2000+ like-minded individuals for the first annual Star Trek Cruise.

All the elevators were decorated like this

Many of the restaurants and bars were similarly themed...

It was an absolutely fantastic and fun experience: the cruise ship was decorated (as much as possible on a finite budget) to recreate Federation technology and decor and there were activities and performances and autograph and photo opportunities by and with the likes of William Shatner, John deLancie, Denise Crosby, Marina Sirtis, Terry Farrell, Ethan Phillips, Max Grodenchik, Robert O'Reilly, Casey Biggs, and Chase Masterson.

My mess dress uniform for the formal

There were also four official theme nights: (i) A Night in the Holodeck, where you were supposed to dress as your favorite holodeck/holosuite character; (ii) Q's Masquerade Ball, where the sky was the limit; (iii) the Captain's Formal Gala; and (iv) an Evening on Risa.

I first heard about the cruise back in August of 2015 or so, when it was first announced, and decided that I really had to go. Now, although I've been a Star Trek fan since I was a kid, I've never been to a con or on a cruise, but there was just something about this idea that I found fascinating. 

So I decided I'd go, and I made the affirmative decision that I was going to embrace the cosplay.  Granted, I didn't have to, and there were a significant number of folks who ended up wearing Star Trek-related garb or generically appropriate clothing, but I decided that I would dive in, as it were (In part, I did so because half the fun of a vacation is anticipating it, and preparing the cosplay was an engaging extension.

At first, I debated doing makeup and going all out as a Trill or a Vulcan (and took the appropriate

Go Niners!

accoutrements onto the ship, but ended up not going that extra step for logistical reasons).  And there were a couple costume ideas I considered and then discarded as either too unwieldy or just not right.

Eventually, though, I decided to do costumes not based on individual particular characters per se, but ones that would evoke an episode or the world of an episode (Incidentally, I tend to think this is one of the reasons for the appeal of books like Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings. Readers who like imaginative play like to imagine themselves in those worlds, perhaps more so than they imagine themselves as Harry Potter or Frodo).

So, what were my favorite episodes that lent themselves to cosplay? Well, for the favorite holodeck character, I decided early on that I wanted to do something related to baseball, since it was the favorite game of Captain Sisko on Deep Space Nine and the subject of one of the more goofily charming episodes, "Take Me Out to the Holosuite," in which a Vulcan captain challenges Sisko and the crew of DS9 to a baseball game.  Both sides had their own uniforms and the DS9 crew were the "Niners."

I ended up having problems figuring out how to do the uniform in a screen accurate manner, so decided to wing it and do what I ended up calling a "Deep Space Nine throwback uniform," complete with Terok Nor (the former name of Deep Space Nine) logo. :-). As you can see, though, there were a number of people who had less difficulty than I did in getting a screen accurate uniform :-):
  

And people were already pulling out the stops for the evening. Here are a couple pics:

The Q Continuum made an appearance

Really creative holodeck no. 1

A transport in progress. The photo doesn't really do it justice

Really creative holodeck no. 2

A very nice historical look

For Q's Masquerade, I found myself with a dilemma: the idea was that it would be a masked ball, but when you wear eyeglasses, masks can prove to be a bit difficult.  In the end, I went with a wild west outfit, because I figured I could wear an "outlaw bandana" as the mask.

The costume is based on the worlds of either the Original Series episode "Spectre of the Gun" or the Next Generation episode "Fistful of Datas." Ultimately, I kept the mask in my pocket since it interfered with the eating and drinking.

As you can see, there were a number of folks who had similar ideas:


They had to change the venue for the masquerade due to weather, so I didn't get as many shots as I'd've liked, but here are a few:



For the Captain's Formal Gala, I decided that I could wear my tux, but I'd always liked the formal dress uniform that was introduced in Star Trek: Insurrection and also appeared in DS9, so I went with that.  I confess that at first I had thought it would be the most boring night of cosplay, since everyone would be in Star Fleet formal uniforms.  And people did that, but there was a bit of variety as well...

The last official theme night, an evening and barbecue ("Targ-BQ") on Risa, seemed to be the most troublesome costume-wise, or at least the one that stretched people's creativity, especially since the only really distinctive Risan outfit was Picard's infamous "silver speedo."  There actually were brave folks who went with that, but one of my favorites was the couple who dressed up as George and Gracie, the humpback whales from Star Trek IV.

And what am I wearing? A conventional pair of board shorts and a garment called a "sleeveless hoodie." It's actually off the rack, but I did have someone ask me if I'd made it myself. I bought it because I'd never heard of such a thing before and the idea of a sleeveless hoodie seemed kind of bizarre to me and therefore suitably Risan :-).

Another of my favorites of the night was The Game headsets (from the eponymous Next Gen episode) that a couple of guys brought:
And then there were these guys whose three hour tour seemed to have gotten a bit sidetracked:

There was a lot of other stuff going on, as well, including the chance to randomly encounter the actors...

...pictures and autographs...

The Grand Nagus signed my novel! :-)

...shore excursions...
...on board lectures, panels, and performances...

William Shatner "christens" the cruise

Terry Farrell leads yoga

Lolita Fatjo discusses script coordinating...

Terry Farrell, Chase Masterson, and James Darren

Casey Biggs leads a wine tasting

...and, of course, the great tribble hunt:
There was way too much going on for me to have caught even a fraction of it, but you can see a ton of pictures at the 2017 Star Trek Cruise photo gallery and there's a great video here.

You can also check out the blog reports from StarTrek.com here: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6.

Live long and prosper!

I'm a bit late this year, but here is a preliminary listing of books written and illustrated by Austinites with releases in 2017!  Note that publication dates may change and/or slip...

For books from earlier years, go here.

Picture Books

BOOK OR BELL, by Chris Barton, ill. by Ashley Spires (Bloomsbury 2017).

MIGHTY TRUCK: MUDDY MANIA, by Chris Barton, ill. by Troy Cummings (HarperCollins 2017).

DAZZLE SHIPS: WORLD WAR I AND THE ART OF CONFUSION,  by Chris Barton, ill. by Victo Ngai (Millbrook 2017).

 WHY AM I ME?, by Paige Britt, ill. by Sean Qualls & Selina Alko (Scholastic Press, Sept. 2017).
 
WHOBERT WHOVER, OWL DETECTIVE, by Jason Gallaher (@DraftingJason), ill. by Jess Pauwels (Margaret McElderry Books/Simon & Schuster, July 2017).
 
 CINNAMON, by Neil Gaiman, ill. by Divya Srinivasan (HarperCollins, May 2017).

THE YOUNGEST MARCHER; THE STORY OF AUDREY MAY HENDRICKS, A YOUNG CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST, by Cynthia Levinson (Atheneum/Simon & Schuster 2017)

BOB, NOT BOB, by Liz Garton Scanlon, ill. by Audrey Vernick (Disney Hyperion, Winter 2017)

ANOTHER WAY TO CLIMB A TREE, by Liz Garton Scanlon, ill. by Hadley Hooper (Neal Porter Books/Roaring Brook Press, Aug. 2017).

STRONG AS SANDOW: HOW EUGEN SANDOW BECAME THE STRONGEST MAN ON EARTH, by Don Tate (Charlesbridge, Aug. 2017).

WHAT THIS STORY NEEDS IS A BANG AND A CLANG, by Emma Virjan (HarperCollins 2017).

Middle Grade/Tween

THE GREAT HIBERNATION, by Tara Dairman (Wendy Lamb Books/Random House, September 2017).

GNOMEAGEDDON, by K.A. Holt (McElderry Book/S&S, Fall 2017)

TUT: MY EPIC BATTLE TO SAVE THE WORLD, by P.J. Hoover (Tor 2017).

FAULT LINES IN THE CONSTITUTION: THE FRAMERS, THEIR FIGHTS, AND THE FLAWS THAT AFFECT US TODAY, by Cynthia Levinson and Sanford Levinson (Peachtree 2017).

IF THE SHOE FITS, by Mari Mancusi (Aladdin/Simon & Schuster, Fall 2017).

IN A DARK LAND, by Christina Soontornvat (Sourcebooks 2017).

REVENGE OF THE HAPPY CAMPERS, by Jennifer Ziegler (Scholastic 2017).


Young Adult

THIS IS NOT THE END, by Chandler Baker (Disney-Hyperion, Aug. 2017).

WITCHTOWN, by Cory Putnam Oakes (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Oct. 2017).

THE SANDCASTLE EMPIRE, by Kayla Olson (HarperTeen 2017).

AVENGED, by Amy Tintera (HarperTeen May 2017).

This book contains essays from the 2016 postings of A Philosopher’s Blog. Subjects range from the metaphysics of guardian angels to the complicated ethics of guns. There are numerous journeys into the realm of political philosophy and some forays into …Read more »

To be honest with you, the past two months (Oct. and Nov.) have been miserable for me because of the election campaign and results. Now, finally, the cloak of despair, the fog of depression, is lifting a little.

One evening, as I noticed the challenge kit from the La Conner Quilt Museum on top of my quilting to-do pile, a flicker of an idea passed through my brain. Then, as I awoke the next morning, the flicker became a small flame, which in turn lead me to accept an invitation to spend an afternoon quilting with some friends, which (in order to have something to work on) got me rooting through my fabric stash.

Now, quilters, beaders, and artists of all types, will recognize the phenomenon caused by physically touching your materials, supplies, and tools. Suddenly your wearisome thoughts of the election (or whatever else got you down) are gone! You fondle your stuff lovingly, and with great anticipation, you make the first cuts, fanning the flame, turning it into a nice warm fire. Ah, saved from the chilly fog, at last!

My journey out of the fog began with this vintage block from a quilt that someone, somewhere, started long ago, but never finished. It, along with many others, was donated to the La Conner Quilt Museum. The Curator, Kathleen Kok, not knowing what she would do with all the vintage blocks donated over the years, just kept them in a corner waiting for an idea to form. And form it did!

Every year the Museum has a challenge as a fundraiser, showcasing the entries at the annual Quilt Festival. For 2017, the challenge theme is "Time" and the material provided in the kit is one of the vintage blocks from their collection. The block above is the one I picked. It is just so cheerful... how could I resist? Hand pieced, it wasn't perfectly sewn, but still I fell instantly in love with it. Mine for a $10 contribution!

Of course, it was just the block. In the photo above, I have already layered it with backing and batting, and then hand quilted it.

My idea is two-fold. (1) Since the "time" theme can be portrayed by a transition from these early fabrics to modern fabrics, I decided to repeat the block using Kaffe Fassett fabric scraps left over from my shimmer quilt. (2) Feeling powerless in the face of impending doom after the election, I had to find some ways to assert my beliefs, and this quilt was to be one of them. I've long been concerned about the ever-increasing world population, about all the small, yet constant ways overpopulation is damaging and destroying the natural systems of the planet. So the title will be: Under the Quilts, Time Flies, and Population GROWS. My idea is to illustrate this concept using both color and beads. You'll see.

First though, a few words about making the modern block. At first I tried to make a pattern for the "flower/star" by tracing one of the triangles from the back side. I hand-stitched the required 16 pieces together FOUR different times, varying the seam allowances each time, trying to get it to lie down flat. Obviously, I did not correctly copy the original, because when I finally sewed it so it was nice and flat, it was also too small. Grrr.

A smart quilt friend (thanks Tori) suggested I trace a section from the right side of the block and add 1/4 inch seam allowances all around. Good idea, but there were small differences between the sections... which one to trace? Trying to answer that question, looking at the block, I finally saw how the pattern was derived! (Light bulb!!!)

It's two overlapping squares of the same size, one on point and one not. All it took was to measure the sides of the squares on the original block (which averaged 8.5 inches), cut them out of paper, fold the diagonals and sides, put a pin through the centers to join them, rotate the top one until the folds lined up, tape the two together, and draw along the fold lines. Voila! Now, all I had to do was cut out one of the half-points, add my quarter-inch seam allowances, and there was the perfect pattern for my new block. The rest went quite quickly, and below you can see the quilted result. (Note: I added quarter-inch seam allowances to each of the pattern pieces shown above to get the final cutting pattern.)


You might be wondering why I've layered and quilted these blocks. How will they be joined to form the quilt? The answer is they won't be joined! Instead, they will be bound as separate little quilts (each 11 inches square), and then appliqued to a separate "background quilt."

Here is how they look with the binding.


Notice that the over-all color of the modern block is darker. This matches my concern about over-population of the planet. Time flies, and the population GROWS, making the world a darker place for me, as many species become stressed and obsolete, as the desert lands grow and the forests shrink, as potable water becomes polluted and scarce, as crowded people war with each other. You know. If you watch the documentaries and contribute to various environmental causes, you know. Darker.

Thus, the quilt also becomes darker as the eye travels from top to bottom. Here is how it looks with the two blocks on the background quilt, the transitioning colors from light to dark, representing about 70 years in time passing (estimating the date of the fabrics in the vintage block at approximately 1946). This is an extremely tiny period of world history, but one in which world population sky-rocketed from 2.3 billion to 7.4 billion.

You can probably see the little heart beads, but if you click to enlarge the photo, you'll see them more clearly. The pair at the top represents a couple. They dive under the quilt, have some fun, and produce four lovely children (between the two blocks). These four pair up, dive under the quilt, resulting in 16 children. Under the quilts, time flies, and the population GROWS. That's m' story, and I'm sticking to it.

Now, here's a question for you loyal readers who have come so far with me on this thing.  The quilt looks really pretty the way it is. But originally, I had planned to do more beading on it.  I planned to bead several vines circling the outer border of the quilt (not the binding). Across the top of the quilt, the vines would be light green, with many green leaves, bright-colored flowers, and some critter beads/charms (bees, birds, bears, fish). As the vines trailed down the sides, they would become darker, until at the bottom they would be beaded with dark brown, black, and darkest greens, with no critters, and only a few dark flowers. The visual message (I hope) would be, "this is what happens when we overpopulate the world." What do you think... leave it like it is now or bead the borders?

Global Population Information

Think of it this way. Every single month increasing world population adds another Los Angeles AND another Chicago to the planet. That's 24 gigantic cities worth of people added EVERY year; more than 240 giant cities every 10 years. Imagine how many cities full of people will be added in your life time. Crunch the numbers and see what you think.

Evidence of heavy population demand on resources is all around us. Global aquifers are being pumped 3.5 times faster than rainfall can naturally recharge them. Eventually they will run dry, perhaps as soon as 75 years. Topsoil is being lost 10-40 times faster than it is formed.  Feeding all 7+ billion of us is increasingly difficult, impossible actually.

There is no technology solution to accommodate the increasing demand of uncontrolled global population growth. The only solution is voluntary one child per couple for a couple of generations, on a Global participation level. If all countries followed the lead of countries with the lowest birth rates (Taiwan, Spain, Portugal, South Korea, and Poland), we could reach a more sustainable Global population of 3 billion by 2100!

Please, talk about this with your child-bearing-aged kids, grand kids, students, etc. We teach environmentally sound practices in most schools, write books and make documentary films about issues like clean water, over-fishing, fracking, etc. But rarely does the topic center on overpopulation. Be proactive. Make it happen.

If you are willing to read (or listen to an audio book) to learn more about Global population, Count Down is an excellent read.

Here is a link to the previous bead embroidery pieces (and poems) I've made concerning population growth.Thank you for reading all the way to the end, and for anything you can do to help people understand what we need to do.

Last week I went up to San Francisco for the Winter Fancy Food Show. This annual trade show draws more than 1,400 food companies from 30 countries who come to SF to show off their newest food products to the retail and hospitality vendors and food media. Last year, I spent a lot of time at the […]

The article Favorite Finds from the Winter Fancy Food Show 2017 originated at EverInTransit.com

Annual Review 2017-18 Other resource sysadmin 18 July 2018

Explore the institute’s output, activities and achievements from the past year examining how to make the world more secure in uncertain times; new thinking on how societies can flourish and be prosperous; and how to contribute to a more just society.

Director’s statement

I wrote a year ago that the world has entered one of the most politically turbulent periods in the modern era. This rings even more true now, as relations have seriously deteriorated between the US administration and its European allies, while instability persists across the Middle East, and China and Russia increase their strategic influence.

Over the past year, Chatham House has assessed these changes and proposed ways to manage the associated risks, while seeking out opportunities to expand prosperity and security across the world. Adam Ward, our deputy director, led the publication of the first Chatham House Expert Perspectives report on risks and opportunities in international affairs, to coincide with our fifth annual London Conference on 21–22 June 2018. The conference was attended by over 450 participants from 71 countries.

Furthermore, using our new simulation centre on the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Floor, our research teams are ‘stress-testing’ their ideas in exercises involving both practitioners and experts. For example, in June 2017 the Centre on Global Health Security and the Africa Programme hosted our first scenario exercise, which explored how to respond to a humanitarian emergency that required landmine clearance. Since then, we have hosted other simulation and scenario planning exercises, including on cyberattacks, Brexit ‘futures’ and the rise of the populist parties in Europe.

We have also used the new facilities to host events supported by modern audiovisual systems; to stress-test our own communications strategy; and even to conduct a round of scenario-based interactive job interviews. The new media studio and editing facilities have led us to create more multimedia content, which has, in turn, enabled us to reach expanded and more diverse audiences for our work. The new SNF Floor has also provided staff with an open, multifunctional meeting area and has alleviated some of the space pressures which had been created by our growing staff numbers.

As you will read in the following pages, our research is currently centred around three themes: making the world more secure in uncertain times; offering new ideas on how societies can flourish and be prosperous; and contributing to a more just society. A growing number of cross-cutting projects enable us to address topics within each of these themes, including cyberthreats, transatlantic relations, the future of the EU–China economic relationship, regulating data, vulnerabilities in global food trade and implementing universal health coverage.

Our ability to do so has been enhanced by the appointment of several new senior research staff: Hans Kundnani as senior fellow in the Europe Programme; Champa Patel as head of the Asia- Pacific Programme; and Leslie Vinjamuri as head of the US and the Americas Programme and dean of the Queen Elizabeth II Academy for Leadership in International Affairs. In addition, Bernice Lee will take over as the new research director of our Global Economy and Finance Department, alongside her continuing role as executive director of the Hoffmann Centre for Sustainable Resource Economy.

During the coming months, we will lay the foundations to mark the institute’s centenary in the summer of 2020. In doing so, we will draw on our archives to acknowledge the institute’s unique achievements over the past 100 years, recognize those many individuals who have supported us along the way, and set out our objectives for the future. In preparation, we have already launched a series of members’ events with a historical focus, examining how the lessons from the past can inform international affairs and policy thinking today.

In closing, I would like to pay tribute and offer my sincere thanks to Stuart Popham, who steps down this year after six years as chair of the institute and 13 years between 2005 and 2018 as a member of Council. Stuart has been a tremendous support and guide to me, and to the institute as a whole, during this period. His measured advice to management and collegiate leadership of Council have been invaluable during a period in which the institute has more than doubled in size, and in which it has thrived despite the increasingly competitive environment for policy convening, analysis and ideas. We look forward to welcoming Stuart back to Chatham House as a highly engaged individual member, and wish him all the best for the future.

Robin Niblett CMG

A recent release on the “Ranking Web of Research Centers” site ranks FAO as fourth among 8000 global research institutions in 2016 for use of its online information. [...]

The international community has committed to ending hunger and malnutrition by 2030. But can we overcome the obstacles that stand in the way of meeting this target?

The State [...]

Since the 1990s, rural transformations have helped millions of people exit poverty while remaining in rural areas. This underscores an important fact: revitalising rural economies helps create jobs for rural [...]

Workers in Ontario are owed tens of millions of dollars in unpaid wages that the provincial government has yet to collect from employers, according to internal government records obtained by CBC Toronto.

At the end of April, the second ZOOM national mission conference, with 300 participants from over 80 cities and towns, was held in Warsaw, Poland.

OM Director's Update from Lawrence Tong, International Director

OM Director's Update from Lawrence Tong, International Director

Marc Tucker's most-read blog posts in 2017.

This interactive map offers a quick way to examine state-by-state grades and summary data.

Here are some charts that sum up the state of the teaching profession in 2017, from working hours to student behavior.

Studies on teacher effectiveness, lessons from Finland, and 'The Magic School Bus' all made this year's list of most-read Teaching Now posts.

Division of Revenue Director David Gregor has announced that Delaware tax season filing deadline this year is Monday, May 1, 2017. Citizens are encouraged to file their 2016 State of Delaware Personal Income Taxes or file an extension to Monday, October 16, 2017 by using our online services at www.delaware.gov.

Five years after the first confirmed spotted lanternfly was found in New Castle County in 2017, the spotted lanternfly has made its way to Sussex County, creating a statewide quarantine for this invasive pest.

The Dual Employment Performance Audit for fiscal years 2020-2022 is the most comprehensive such report issued by a Delaware State Auditor. For Immediate Release: September 17, 2024 Contact: Samuel Barry, Policy Advisor (302) 382-0651, Samuel.Barry@delaware.gov Click here to view, search, and download Delaware Audit Reports online.   Dover, DE – Delaware Auditor of Accounts Lydia […]

Over 1000 companies expressed interest in 17 categories of projects for the 2017 capital projects of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC). The Managing Director of the NRC, Engr. Fidet Okhiria disclosed this on Tuesday while declaring open the process for the opening of bids for the projects. The formal opening of bids held at the […]

Over 1,000 firms bid for 2017 railway projects

2017 Kia Cadenza

2017 Hyundai IONIQ Hybrid Dynamic B-roll

EAMF 2016 Highlights

Lots of subjects! This is going to be a long one I think!


I’m Behind on Everything! But I’m catching up with a smile on my face!
There’s a lot missing from the site! Defenders content, contact info, Dialogue Search, etc. And things left to automate too! News Headlines, Forums, Comics Posting; all these things are not automated yet. But we’re making progress, a little bit every day.
On a personal note, I’m feeling my way through the way I want everything to happen in this new lifestyle of mine. There’ll be some growing pains as I flex my elbows and shape my schedule. I’m feeling a little overwhelmed right now with the new little details in my life, but every day gets a little more shiny! Give me a month or two and we should have our groove back!

On the Comic Itself: I know it’s been cliffhanger after cliffhanger in the strip. I really appreciate the elbow room to tell the story right instead of trying to crowbar it all in by the 25th of August.  I really was thinking about doing that. Also I was fearing having to just end things. But as all of this has unfolded I am thrilled to have this happy medium. “The Fall” will run as I always intended! That in and of itself is enough reason to sincerely thank each and every one of you Defenders of the Nifty and New Defenders 20+ for allowing this to happen!


The Store will stay closed for a bit! I’m thinking it won’t  open until October! Maybe later! I can’t even think of fulfilling orders until I get Book 17 locked down and figure out how to get all the bookmarks and pawnz out!


Speaking of The Defenders Exclusive Pawn and Bookmark of the Month: Everybody who’s been a Defender 20+ at Level 2 or higher for all of September will get a digital version of the Dark Gwynn Pawnz and the Dark Gwynn bookmark. Level 3 or higher lands you a printed version sent to you.

This monthly reward-printing is new to me, but I’m sure will go smoothly! I’ll keep y’all posted on that! If you want the yet-undesigned Demon-Spear Psyk Pawnz and Bookmark make sure you’re at level 2 or higher for all of October (level 3 or higher for a printed version)! This is a Public Service Announcement.

On to the biggest thing I need to get my tail in gear on:
The Archives- I need to finish my Archives Approving! This is my new top-of-the-list as of today!  We fixed a lot of the bouncing and bandwidth issues on the archives and got some calendar navigation in! And by “we” I meant ‘Team Not Including Me’. I said at site launch that “Chapters 48-64: Haven’t looked at yet! Uncharted Territory! New Readers AVOID these Chapters, rows of many strips may just be GONE! (It’ll take me maybe a week to clear these up!)” Well I haven’t had that time yet. Who knew lightened my workload was so much work? No more excuses, I’m doing it!!!


BONUS BEHIND THE SCENES: How We Remastered The Impossible Archives:  Here’s some insight on how the bigger archives were created. At one point I was doing one hi-res file per comic. (Back when comics were rarely more than 1 row). Theses would be dropped into books. Then, for the more epic stores I started doing larger comic files. These had to be broken down into multiple pages at book time. Then I was like ‘what a pain in the butt! I’ll just lay these out in book form directly and pluck from them the individual comic files. So some comics crossed pages. Some pages held multiple comics. And the patterns varied over the 20 years Sluggy’d been going on.

We have hi-res pdfs of the books, but sometimes books had different layout, comic order (sometimes holiday stories were moved to the back to the book for example), and the pdfs were sometimes missing filler art, guest artist weeks, and the random wacky things that have fallen into the archives into the years.

So with all that mess, how does one create a higher-res archive?

The team turned a computer into the Ultimate Sluggite! It read every comic, breaking it into slices, pouring over every detail, and matched the low res archives to my hi-res various files. For TWENTY YEARS OF almost DALY STRIPS! That’s 6,696 comics made of 8,445 low res files sliced into 12,215 rows matched against 5,511 high res pages to produce 10,050 matching high res files! THAT’S INSANE! And I dig that one of my biggest fans is a robot forced to be a fan against its will! OK I like to think that way at least!

In conclusion: We’ve done so much! So much left to do! Every day is getting better! THANK YOU DEFENDERS! And this was one long news story!


-Pete

The Indian mobile accessories market is set to explode owing to the exponential smartphone sales growth and domestic phone maker Intex aims to touch the Rs.100 crore mark.

Salaries are expected to rise by 10 pct in 2017, while star performers will attract much more as companies are discernibly prioritising such employees, says a report.

Buoyed by the emerging digital business strategies that Indian firms are fast adopting, the country's software revenue is set to reach $5.8 billion in 2017 -- a 12.8 pct increase from 2016, a new report said on Thursday.

The Abbott Government's tough negotiations in an effort to seal an Indian Free Trade Agreement (FTA) next year should see 70 per cent of Australia's two-way trade covered by a free trade agreement.

R.SAKTHIVEL, J.

These Civil Miscellaneous Appeal and Cross Objection are at the instance of the petitioner / appellant and the respondent respectively. In both the cases, challenge is to the Judgment and Decree dated November 7, https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis Page No.2 of 24 CMA NO.3541 OF 2017 & CROSS OBJ. NO.51 OF 2019 2017 passed by the ‘Principal Family Court, Coimbatore’ ['Family Court' for short], in H.M.O.P.No.1445 of 2015. This Common Judgment will govern both of them.

The 2nd PUC annual exams will be held from March 09 to 27. The Department of Pre-University Education, Government of Karnataka (PUE) has released time table for the same with tentative dates. Objections regarding the dates can be submitted at the

Cochin University of Science and technology (CUSAT) has announced the complete schedule for online CUSAT Common Admission test 2017. CUSAT University conducts: Common Admission Test (CAT) Lateral Entry Test (LET) Departmental Admission Test (DAT) every year On the basis

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on  February 22,  2017 issued a notification announcing date and procedure for applying for Indian Civil Services Preliminary Examination, 2017 on its official website. {image-upsc-22-1487766661.jpg www.careerindia.com} Vacancy Details: 980 posts.Important dates to remember: To

The procedure for seeking admission to MBA, MCA, and M.E/ M.Tech/ M.Arch./ M.Plan. Degree programs for the academic year 2017-2018 consist of the following two steps: Appearing for the Tamil Nadu Common Entrance Test (TANCET) 2017 in March 2017.  Applying

The Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE) has declared the dates of board examinations. CCTV cameras in all the examination centers are installed to prevent from cheating. {image-keepcalmandhandleexams-18-1476809719-24-1487929454.jpg www.careerindia.com} How many students are appearing for the exam? This year, around 3,80,707